Budget Blues : Chorus of Praise for Music Teacher May Not Save Job

Iris Stevenson, fresh from a gospel music tour, was vacationing in Los Angeles when a fellow churchgoer told her that the once-heralded music program at Crenshaw High School needed a new mentor.

The school’s popular music teacher had recently died, and Stevenson--with two decades of experience teaching, composing and performing, and a reputation that stretched across the country--seemed a natural successor.

She wavered. Coming here would mean leaving the successful music program she had built in Buffalo, N.Y., and students she had grown to love--but school officials here persuaded her, and in 1985 she packed up her car and drove out from New York.

Now, six years later, she wonders about the wisdom of that decision.

Despite what parents, students and fellow teachers characterize as her phenomenal success motivating students and molding the school’s Elite Choir into one of the area’s best, Stevenson faces the prospect of being out of a job when school ends next month--one of more than 900 teachers, librarians, nurses and others threatened with layoff as the Los Angeles Unified School District tries to cut $317 million from its 1991-92 budget.

“I keep thinking that if I’d stayed in Buffalo, I’d be about three years away from retirement,” Stevenson said Thursday, during a break between music classes. “Now it looks like I’ll be starting over.”

Because district officials tried to keep the cuts away from some academic areas--such as English, math and science--other subjects, including music, physical education and social studies, were hit especially hard by the layoff notices, which went to teachers with the shortest tenure with the district.

“It’s not an issue of competence; these are all good people,” said Tom Kileen, a district personnel administrator. “Unfortunately, we have a critical budget crisis and the (school) board looked for programs that could be reduced or eliminated that wouldn’t have such a severe impact on the instructional program.”

Many of the notices may ultimately be rescinded. Hearings are going on now before an administrative law judge on whether the district met all the legal requirements in determining layoffs, and district officials say they may be able to restore some jobs if money can be found during budget reviews in the next two months.

But the prospect of having popular programs gutted and teachers dispatched has already created an uproar at several schools, including Crenshaw, where Stevenson has become such a legend that more than 800 people signed a petition to keep her, and several parents testified on her behalf at the layoff hearings this week.

“It goes way beyond music,” said Alice Cooper, whose two children were Stevenson’s pupils. “She demands that the students give their best in every subject. She’ll get right down there in the books with them if they need help.

“Everybody loves this woman because she cares so much. I’ve been at her house and her answering machine is always busy, taking calls from (former) students from around the country,” Cooper said. “She’s not married, she has no children of her own, but she’ll pick up the phone and somebody will say, ‘Hi, Mom, I love you.’ ”

Under Stevenson’s direction, the school’s choir has thrived, appearing on television and in stage productions, traveling around the country, winning national competitions and performing regularly for some of the area’s biggest corporations.

“Our music program has become a real source of pride for our school,” said Jewel Boutte, principal of the South-Central Los Angeles school. “What it’s done is to build strength and self-esteem for the students.”

Indeed, school officials say, it is often the “non-essential” courses like music, art and vocational education that keep students from dropping out. But in a school district forced by financial woes to go beyond trimming the fat, those programs are the most vulnerable.

“I don’t know what would have happened to my daughter if it hadn’t been for her music classes,” said Cooper. “In junior high, she was on verge of failing. Now she’s an honor student. She’ll graduate in June with a four-year college scholarship to study music.”

By all accounts, Stevenson and the Crenshaw music program are one and the same. She built it from one choral class to five, with 300 students who study everything from keyboard technique to music history. The school would probably get another music teacher, but it could be someone from another academic field. “I hate to say our music program goes if she goes, but I can’t imagine anybody filling her shoes,” Boutte said.

Neither can Willena McLemore, mother of seven Crenshaw High graduates and a volunteer at the school for 24 years.

“I knew she was special the first day she came into the school,” McLemore recalled. “She walked in, looked around and kind of cased the place. Out in the hallway there was a pile (of debris) that had blown in from outside. She went over there, swept it up and put it into the trash. It was something like a mother would do.

“Then she came in, faced her class and said ‘Hello, I’m Iris Stevenson and I’m going to teach you a song.’ . . . In five minutes, she had those kids singing like they’d never sung before.”

Stevenson, a former concert pianist and college music professor, turns away the accolades, and professes not to worry about her future should her layoff come to pass.

“When I first got the (layoff) notice, I was floored,” she admits. “I didn’t believe it. I felt like, ‘Why did you bring me out here just to lay me off?’

“But more important than my job, they need to save music (instruction) in Los Angeles, period. Otherwise, we’re delegating the authority to teach music to the radio and television. We’ll have youngsters who know all the rap songs, but have never heard classical music . . . who can’t tell you what ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is,” she said.

“For myself, I’m disappointed, but not discouraged. I’ve got other offers, but I’m not taking anything until I find out what’s going on here. I love teaching in the public schools and my heart is committed to Crenshaw High School.”